Fun Spring Easter Sensory Bin

Inside: Put together fun spring Easter sensory bin with multi-colored rice, scoops, and plastic eggs. Young children love filling the eggs, shaking them, and then pouring the rice out. Over and over again!

If you’ve spent any time around toddlers and young preschoolers, it’s pretty apparent that they love to scoop and pour.

During our Easter theme, I decided to recycle the multi-colored rice from our rainbow unit along with some of the many plastic colorful eggs we have collected over the years. I added a few trays from our Easter bin and, of course, scoops.

It’s easily one of our favorite spring sensory bins!

Fun Spring Easter Sensory Bin

It really is simple. Let me show you!

How to Make Rainbow Rice

The first thing you will need to do is create some rainbow rice.

You will need:

• Uncooked white rice (get the cheap stuff!)
• White vinegar
• Icing gels or food coloring: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple
• Plastic storage bags with zip-lock or slider closure
• Cookie sheets and paper towels

For each color of rice you will need:

• 1 cup rice
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• Icing gel or food coloring
• Plastic storage bag
• Cookie sheet lined with paper towels

Directions for each color:

• Pour a cup of rice into a bag and add desired amount of icing gel or food coloring. (This depends on how dark you want your color.)
• Then, add the white vinegar.
• Pour the white vinegar into the bag with the rice and coloring and seal the bag.
• Then use your fingers on top of the bag to push and move the rice around, distributing the color.
• Then, pour the colored rice from the bag onto the paper towel lined cookie sheet.
• Allow to dry.

Note: If you don’t have 6 cookie sheets, do this in batches. As one color dries, pour the rice into a container and start over with another color.

Pour all of your colors into one big container and store until ready to use.

Assembling the Easter Sensory Bin

• Pour the rainbow rice into your sensory bin.
• Add plastic Easter eggs, scoops, and whatever other little Easter items you’d like. (I added an egg tray.)

Invitation to Play

Truly, all you need to do is announce that this Easter sensory bin is open and you will have visitors!

The eggs will be opened, rice will be scooped inside, and the eggs might even be closed again to make shakers.

(My students always love the sound of egg shakers.)

Managing the Sensory Bin

Our sensory bin is offered during free-choice centers time.

Children can come and go as they wish. I don’t monitor who goes where, nor do I place limits on how many children can be at the sensory bin.

There are times when our sensory bin is quite popular and the children need to find space. Most of the time they can manage this on their own, but sometimes (especially during the beginning of the school year), I might need to assist, showing them how to make room for a friend.

Fine Motor

With all of my sensory bins, I add pieces that help build fine motor skills.

Some ideas:

• Tongs
• Scoops
• Cups
• Tweezers
• Silcone Baking Cups

Of course, simply using the hands is a great way to strengthen fine motor skills!

Plus, this is a great sense-of-touch activity.

Our toddlers especially love the feel of rice in their small hands and they love how it sounds as it falls from their hands back into the sensory bin.

When to Change the Sensory Bin

I am often asked how long I keep the sensory bin activity out, before changing it to a new activity.

Usually I change the contents of our sensory bins when I change themes, which is on average two weeks.

When finished, I place all the themed pieces back into the theme bin and bag up the rice. I might get one more use of it, or I might discard it.

More Dyed Rice Sensory Bins

• Rice and Funnels
• Rice and Apples
• Pumpkin Sensory Bin
• Star Sensory Bin